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Rank: From APL to NHL?
July 13, 2010
By Stuart Hall

Garrett Rank, an aspiring NHL referee, advanced to the second round of match play with a 5-and-4 win
over Cody Paladino Wednesday. (USGA/Robert Walker)

Greensboro, N.C. — The question has become hackneyed for Canadian hockey players who also golf.

Probably 10 times a summer, said Garrett Rank on the number of Happy Gilmore wisecracks. The more
common reference you get to hockey, though, is people talking about a slap shot or ‘I’m surprised
you’re not taking a slap shot at the ball.’

Rank, 22, of Elmira, Canada, forechecked Cody Paladino, 5 and 4, in the first round of match play at
the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship Wednesday at Bryan Park Golf & Conference Center.

Rank, who shot a 4-over 146 in stroke play, will meet Brent Martin, 23, of La Plata, Md., in the
second round of match play Thursday morning. Martin defeated Thomas Welk, 3 and 2.

It was still a grind out there, said Rank, a rising junior at the University of Waterloo in Ontario,
Canada. I got off to a good start and then I didn’t want to give him any easy holes coming in. I
played well, a little better than I did in the [stroke play]. It was good to get a feel for the
course, and you’re more comfortable the more rounds you play.

While Rank hopes to win his way through to Saturday’s scheduled 36-hole final, his biggest nemesis
may not come from the bracket but from the turf. Bryan Park’s Bermuda grass rough has been cause for
consternation.

On Monday, Rank admitted to leaving a couple of chips in the rough for a second swipe. He has since
discovered to treat such shots like sand shots if the ball is lying down.

What Rank has mastered, though, are the greens that are far different than the bouncy poa he is
accustomed to back home. If you get the ball rolling on the right line, then you’re going to make
some putts, he said.

Like most twenty-somethings in this week’s field, Rank eventually wants to test his mettle as a
professional golfer. But he may have to wait should a different vocation play out — that of being a
National Hockey League referee.

You can golf the rest of your life, but you only get one chance to become an NHL referee, so if I
were given that opportunity, I’d probably take it and then play golf down the road, he said.

Rank was a two-year walk-on hockey player at Waterloo and wanted to stay involved in the game. At
6-foot-1, 192 pounds with good skating skills and knowledge of the game, he is viewed as a strong
referee prospect.

Rank, whose older brother Kyle plays for the American Hockey League’s Portland franchise, cut his
teeth refereeing local junior hockey and this year received an invitation to referee in the Canadian
Hockey League, the umbrella organization for the country’s three major junior hockey leagues and the
source for the majority of NHL players. A promotion to the AHL would precede the final move to the
NHL.

I decided to give it a shot and I’ve been doing well, said Rank of the transition. If you’ve played
you get a little more respect. The players know that you have a feel for the game and know what’s
going on out there.

But Rank admits to hearing the occasional heckle.

It’s more like all of the time, but you have to have the attitude and mentality not to worry about
that, he said. There are times, though, when you want to up and drive someone, but you have to
refrain from doing that.

That’s good news for Rank’s remaining match play opponents.

Stuart Hall is a freelance writer whose work has previously appeared on USGA websites.